Blockchains are fascinating- a platform for robust, immutable, and trustless data storage and computation. But they’re also cumbersome- slow, inefficient, and expensive. So when are blockchains the right solution for a problem? Blockchains are not a magical new type of computing. » Read More
Build Your Own Blockchain: A Python Tutorial
Download the full Jupyter/iPython notebook from Github here
Build Your Own Blockchain – The Basics¶
This tutorial will walk you through the basics of how to build a blockchain from scratch. Focusing on the details of a concrete example will provide a deeper understanding of the strengths and limitations of blockchains. » Read More
Tips for Great Hackathons
In addition to participating in a variety of hackathon, I’ve helped organize the Cleanweb Berkeley hackathon twice. From my experience on both sides of the judging stand, I have a few thoughts on what makes a good hackathon- and it’s more than just big prizes or awesome prompts. » Read More
Cleanweb Berkeley
I help organize Cleanweb Berkeley, a student group on-campus that raises awareness of cleantech careers for data scientists, and facilitates research dealing with data and energy/electricity systems.
Over the years, we’ve tried a number of different formats; here are a few of the lessons we’ve learned:
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Citadel Datathon Featured in Bloomberg!
I was delighted to be quoted in Bloomberg Technology in their coverage of the Datathon organized by Citadel and Correlation One- definitely an unexpected honor, and I’ve been humbled by the responses. For more the Datathon itself, check out my post about the Correlation One Datathon. » Read More
What are Blockchains Good For?
Blockchains are difficult to understand, harder to implement, and yet have generated billion-dollar markets. This inscrutable success has given them the perception of having magical powers, and VCs have poured millions of dollars into the space in the hope of finding the right engineers who understand the technology and problem enough to create the killer blockchain app. » Read More
Reflections on the Citadel/Correlation One Datathon
I had the opportunity to participate in a Datathon this Friday, organized by Correlation One for Citadel Asset Management (and Citadel Securities). It was an incredible 8-hour sprint of data science and statistics, and -though I can still hardly believe it- our team walked away with first place, » Read More